ELÉONORE "LÉO"
HAMELIN
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER & DIRECTOR
DOCUMENTARIES
Highlights
Quiet No More: The Struggle of The Reverend Sharon Risher (trailer)
“Fun and Dying:” What Does it Mean to be Death Positive?
The People's Newspaper
Isabelle Huppert se prépare pour le Met Gala 2024 | Vogue France
Inside a Grief Camp for Kids
U.S.-Mexico Border: Inside a Migrant Rescue Mission
Saving the Vaquitas
Remember When I Could Dance
Blind Family Hopes to See Again with Help from These Doctors | Short Film Showcase
Crossing the border to go to school in the US - BBC News
They lost parents in 9/11. Here's their message for Paris.
The Pint-Size C.E.O. | The New York Times
BIO
Léo Hamelin is a filmmaker and director who works in the United States and internationally.
Most recently, she was the Head of Documentaries at Brut. America, where she led a small team to create impactful, social documentaries across the US.
Léo's work is immersive and aims to create empathy through intimate, first-person accounts. She created 30 short docs about addiction, death, porn, immigration and the environment, reaching millions of viewers worldwide.
She is the director of "Quiet No More" a New Yorker Documentary that received the National Magazine Award and premiered at DOC NYC.
She previously worked at Blue Chalk Media as a Director/Producer.
She directed the New Yorker documentary "The People's Newspaper" that received a Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting Grant.
She has created videos for artists and galleries like the Miami Design District -- and has also worked on branded non-fiction docs for corporate brands such as Lyft, Nike, Morgan Stanley, Pepsico Foundation and Carnegie.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg, BBC, TIME, The Guardian, Nat Geo, VOX.com, AFP, Arte.
She recently got awarded a European Journalism Centre grant for Innovation in Development Reporting to report on gender equality in Rwanda, in collaboration with Time, Libération, La Stampa, Marie Claire, El País and more.
As a recipient of the 2018 Adelante Fellowship from the International Women Media Foundation (IWMF) she reported from the US-Mexico border. Her work was published on the BBC and Tampa Bay Times. Her illustrated essay about life at the border was published on BuzzFeed News.
Léo was born into a French family but grew-up in Brazil and Thailand, studied in France, Mexico and Hong Kong. She has produced work internationally, including in Central and South America, Europe, East and South Africa.
She regularly teaches online documentary courses at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, where she got a Master's Degree in 2012 and worked as Digital Media Fellow in 2013.
Prior, she earned a B.A. in Politics '09 and a Master's Degree in Journalism '11 from Sciences-Po Paris.
She's a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Video Consortium.
She also creates editorial illustrations, you can find those on her insta Doodle Reporter.
AWARDS & GRANTS
NGO & BRANDED NON-FICTION
NGO & Branded
Clean Water It's A Human Right
Freedom is the Future: Activists Tell their Stories
Ground Zero for Climate Change: Apalachicola Bay
Great Immigrants - The Pride of America
A Figure, Empowered
How Governments and Automakers Can Make Cars Safer | Bloomberg Philanthropies
Emeldah
How one team turned a sprint project into a marathon success | TED & Dropbox
Geoffrey & Evelyn
EarthEnable | Morgan Stanley 2023 Sustainable Solutions Collaborative
Lyft | Staying safe this holiday season
Beatrice
SKILLS & EXPERTISE
INTERNATIONAL WORK
Léo has worked in over 30 countries. She grew up in Brazil and Thailand, studied in France Mexico and Hong Kong. She is multilingual and completed Hostile Environment First Aid Training courses in Mexico.
ACADEMIA
Léo has been in a teaching role at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism since 2012. She currently leads a yearly Video Journalism workshop as part of the School's Adjunct Faculty. She has also mentored newsrooms transitioning to video in partnership with the International Center for Journalism.
VIDEO STORYTELLING SKILLS
Léo has worked as a Producer/Director as part of big production as well as a self-shooter reporting solo. She owns an Fx6 camera package.
PRINT & DOODLES
Léo also writes and draws. Her work as a writer has been published in Marie Claire, Le Monde, Libération, El Pais, La Stampa -- in most cases, along with her drawings. She's done a graphic essay about the US-Mexico border for Buzzfeed News. Check her doodle portfolio here.